Four-cycle supplementary-port gas-engine.



-B. c. KENYON. FOUR-CYCLE SUPPLEMENTARY PORT GAS ENGINE.

APPLICATION HLED OCT-20,1913.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 1- B. c. KENYON.

Patented Nova 21, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2- B. C. KENYO N.

FOUR-CYCLE SUPPLEMENTARY PORT GAS ENGINE. APPLICATIQH FILED DCT. 20. I913.

ififififi, Patented Nov. 21, 1916.

3 SHEETS$HEET 3- wifne sses tinrrnn s'rarns mama oriaicn.

BERTRAM C. KENYON, OF MISHAWAKA, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO DODGE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF MISHAWAKA, INDIANA, A CORPORATION OF INDIANA.

FOUR-CYCLE SUPPLEMENTARY-PORT GAS-ENGTNE.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, BERTRAM C. KnNYoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Mishaw'aka, in the county of St. Joseph and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Four-Cycle Supplementary-Port Gas-Engines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in four or Otto cycle gas engines and it appertains more especially to the features pointed out in the annexed claims.

The purpose of my invention is to secure a larger power output and greater efiiciency with a given fuel intake, than has heretofore been attained, by means of inexpensive expedients and without complicating the process or mechanism.

The invention is applicable to practically any type of four cycle engine that has an inclosed crank case, thus making its advantages available to existing automobile or other internal combustion engines as well as new ones. This may he obtained by the use of attachable fillers secured to the cranks and suitable by-passes, reaching from the crank chamber to just above the working end of the piston at its lowest position and making an air opening, so as to not disturb the water jacketing, placed so as to admit air to the crank case when the lower edge of the piston has passed the opening on its up stroke and is in its highest position. Such an arrangement will automatically increase the.power ofan ordinary four cycle engine, as shown by tests, without disturbing the constancy or increasing I the fuel. mixture supplied by the carbureter.

Other means could be employed to compress the air for use in raising the available power of a given engine but the fundamental principle would remain distinctly ditferent from that found in an ordinary two-stroke engine because the two-cycle engine takes a charge from the carbureter, through a check valve and compresses the entire mixture before it is admitted to the working cylinder while in this case the two steps are separate, air alone being compressed in the crank case.

With these ends in view I illustrate in the accompanying drawings such instances of adaptation as will disclose the fundamental features of the invention without limiting myself to the specific details shown.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 3i, 11.916.

Application filed October 20, 1913. Serial No. 796,307.

Figure 1 is an elevation in transverse section of an ordinary four-cycle engine to which the adaptations are applied. Fig. 2 is a cross section through the by-pass air intake port on lines 00 w of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a .cross section on line 3/ 3 of Fig. 1 through the external air inlet. Fig. 4 is a longitudi nal elevation partly in section of the adaptations shown in Fig. 1, in special relation to the crank case mechanism. Fig. 5 is an elevation in section, principally diagramof the sleeves 6, thus sealing the shaft joints against serious leakage in either direction. In order that the usual open space around the crank is restricted so as to secure the compression of air therein hollow filler plates or disks 13 are attached to the cranks 10, by means of long screws 9. These plates are recessed at 36 to fit over the inner end of the cranks. They loosely encircle the head of. the connecting rod 12 that has hearing on the crank pin 11. A removable bottom plate 15 makes the crank case interior accessible. The solid portion 14% of the plates fill the space between the connecting rod and the cranks.

In the case of a single cylinder engine a 2:1 ratio drive is used between the crank shaft 5 and the valve cam shaft 35 by means of a pinion 37 on the crank shaft and a spur.

gear 36 on shaft 35 which shaft is supplied with exhaust and inlet cams 34. These cams operate on rollers 33 secured to stems 31 which are slidable in brackets 32. The stems engage valve rods 29 which carry the valves 28 that are kept seated by springs 30. They control the intake ports I, inlet ports I and the outlet or exhaust ports E and their time of action is controlled by the angular displacement of the intake and exhaust cams 34 on shaft 35. The usual cap 27 for making the valve 28 accessible for reseating and removal is shown in Fig. 1. Spark plugs 26 are supplied to the different cylinders. Each cylinder is inclosed by the usual form of water jacket 24.

The connecting rod 12 is connected to the piston 16 by means of a gudgeon pin 40. As the piston slides downward and reaches the end of its stroke its upper edge uncovers the bypass port 18 that leads inside of projection 17 to the crank case as shown in Fig. 1.

If desired a valve 19 may be placed in this by-pass so as to control the air movement into the cylinder. Such a valve may be placed in bosses 20 and be held in definite positions through set screw 23 carried by arm 22 operating against aclamping block which engages a marked segment 21, or the screw might enter holes in such Lsegment, thus determining the adjustment within fixed limits. The air inlet to the crank chamber is through opening 25. This is uncovered by the lower edge of the piston 16 when at its extreme upper position thus admitting air to fill a partial vacuum formed by the up-stroke.

In Figs. 2 and 3 the valve rods 29 are also marked I for inlet and E for exhaust. These letter designations are also applied to the ports shown in Fig. 5. The four cylinder combination shown in this figure is made up of complete units, in duplicate, and in order to make all of the valves 19 controllable simultaneously a rod 42 is connected to each of the arms 22. The rod 42 is pivoted to a hand lever 44 fulcrumed on bracket 43. In this adaptation cam shaft 35 is driven in a 1:1 ratio by gears 49 and 50. Alining rings 41 may be used to hold the units in line with each other and true to the axis of the crank shaft. Suitable tie rods may also be used to hold the units in assembled relation. In the case of new engines the cranks may be of the disk type so as to combine the purpose of the fillers and the ordinary crank as shown and any kind of compensatory packing may be placed between the same and the bearings. The order of procession shown in Fig. 5, commencing at the left hand cylinder is such as to place the pistons respectively at the end of the explosion, compression, exhaust and intake strokes.

It will be seen that the packing plates 7 not only prevent the escape of air through the bearings but they stop the infiltrationof lubricating oil which when it gains access to the working space of the cylinder contaminates the fuel charges and lowers the working efliciency of the engine.

A rsum of the successive steps is given to sum up briefly their sequence using a single cylinder engine as a basis. On the intake stroke of the piston downward the inlet valve remains open until the lower end of the piston uncovers port 18, when the air that entered port 25, as the piston was in its extreme upper position, and which has been compressed rushes through the by-pass, the moment its port is uncovered by the last portion of the pistons downward movement, thus inter-mingling with the charge in the cylinder producing a more homogeneous mixture than ordinarily. This will have a shorter time constant, more rapid flame propagation, hence a greater resultant pressure effect on the power stroke, after the piston has traversed upward again to compress the charge prior to its ignition. When the explosion is completed and the downward travel of the piston finished the port 18 is again uncovered and the compressed air contained in the crank case rushes into the cylinder with considerable pressure just after the time the exhaust valve is opened by one of the cams 34 and the piston is about ready to return on another upstroke to scavenge the cylinder and free it of the products of combustion produced on its previous downward travel. If the compressed air from the crank case was not admitted at this stage there would be a more or less sluggish scavenging action which at best would leave a remnant of burnt gases in the valve pockets. These gases must of course, if not removed, mix with the next incoming charge to their great disadvantage. Under my arrangement the last portion of the scavenging stroke leaves uncontaminated air trapped in the valve pockets or at any event a remnant that is so diluted as to have no deleterious effect on the incoming charge. The supplementary ports 18 and 25 are so placed as to. be slightly in advance of each other, 18 being uncovered by the upper edge and 25 by the lower edgeof the piston at the termination of opposite strokes. The piston is packed with the usual rings at one end only or at both as may be desired. Under certain exigencies the by-pass instead of being cast into the cylinder walls may be formed of pipe.

From the description it will be seen that the practical requirements are extremely simple. The improvements being free from costly constructional features results in a device that can be easily put into practice.

What I claim is:-

1. In gas engines, a crank case, a cylinder supported thereby, inlet and outlet valves at one end of the cylinder, additional ports at the other end one of such ports forming an external connection to the interior of the cylinder and the other leading to the crank case through a by-pass, a crank operable in the case, a piston in the cylinder, a connecting rod between the crank and piston, disks or fillers attached to the cranks adapts ed to occupy the vacant space in the crank case on each side of the path of travel of the connecting rod, bearings for the crank shaft, and compensating packing between the crank and bearings to prevent leakage through the bearings.

2. 111 a gas engine, a suitable inclosed base, a cylinder attached thereto, bearings therein, a crank shaft in the bearings, a piston slidable in the cylinder, connections therefrom to the crank, inlet and outlet ports at the outer end of the cylinder, a bypass from the cylinder to the base, another opening extending through the cylinder walls independent of the by-pass, a disk or filler inclosing each half of the crank, elastic packing between the crank and the bearlugs, the external opening through the movement of the piston automatically admitting fresh air to the crank case and the air being delivered once for each instroke at constant volume to the cylinder, and means for operating the fuel valve from the crank shaft in a four cycle sequence.

3. In a gas engine, a crank case, a cylinder supported thereby, inlet and outlet valves therefor at one end of the cylinder, ports at the other end one of said ports leading through the cylinder walls to its inside and the other one by means of a bypass to the crank case, a crank operable in the crank case, a piston inthe cylinder, a connecting rod therebetween, removable disks or fillers inclosing the cranks, suitable fastening means therefor, bearings for the crank shaft, an elastic packing between the cranks and bearings to prevent leakage through the bearings, and suitable means for adjusting the flow from the crank case to the cylinder.

4. In a gas engine, a plurality of cylinders, a plurality of crank cases for supporting the cylinders, cranks rotatable in the cases, a shaft connecting the several cranks, pistons for the cylinders, connecting rods from the pistons to the cranks, a plurality of inlet and outlet ports for the cylinders, automatic means for operating the same, unalined openings in the cylinders controlled by the inner end of the pistons, a by-pass for each cylinder leading from one of said openings to its crank case, suitable disks attached to and inclosing the cranks and providing working spaces between the disks for the connecting rods, elastic packings between the cranks and hearings to prevent leakage, suitable axially alining means external of each crank case, means for holding a series of engine units assembled on one crank shaft, a control in the by-pass of each unit, and means for simultaneously adjusting the controls of all the units.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

BERTRAM o. KENYON.

Witnesses:

EDWIN F. MOORE, W. I. Mynns. 

